Thread by @wmhuo168

China built an AI-ready power grid. We’re burning diesel to keep GPUs running. This isn’t a tech race. It’s collapse vs control.

spectrum.ieee.org/chinas-ambitio…

China built a civilization-scale AI infrastructure. America built GPU warehouses powered by diesel generators.

This isn’t a tech gap. It’s a systems collapse. (1/21)

Let’s start with power. Not stock valuations or compute flops. Actual electrons.

China built over 30 UHVDC lines—continent-spanning electrical highways with 1–2% loss over 3,000 km. (2/21)

The U.S. still runs on three fragmented grids with outdated tech and no national coordination.

We can’t move power across regions, let alone reroute it at scale. (3/21)

When China spins up an AI supercluster in a western province, the power is already there.

When we try, the local grid collapses and the developer installs backup diesel. (4/21)

Microsoft is now exploring microreactors to power its data centers.

That’s not innovation. That’s collapse mitigation. (5/21)

In China, AI and EVs are central policy. The state plans. The grid delivers. The infrastructure scales.

In the U.S., every company is on its own. No coordination. No capacity. No future-proofing. (6/21)

China can build AI clusters and EV production at national scale because it built the grid for it.

We ration electricity like it's wartime. Whoever pays more wins. (7/21)

EVs in China are inevitable. The grid can handle them. Charging is everywhere. Supply chains are domestic.

In America, EVs just got evicted. GPU clusters took their spot in the power queue. (8/21)

Ford slashed its EV plans. GM is delaying launches. Tesla is hedging.

Why? Because there’s no power left. Nvidia clusters took it. (9/21)

In America, AI won the resource war against EVs.

We didn’t scale both. We sacrificed one for hype. (10/21)

Every AI data center in America is a fortress with private power.

They’re not plugging into a grid. They’re escaping it. (11/21)

China’s grid scales across provinces. It integrates solar, wind, coal, and hydro into one dispatchable system.

We can’t even keep California synced with Arizona. (12/21)

America’s transformers are decades old. Our grid components are imported. Supply chains are fragile.

China makes its own hardware, software, and grid control systems. (13/21)

Chinese firms like State Grid and TBEA are exporting UHVDC tech globally. Brazil, Africa, Southeast Asia.

We're still arguing over who should pay to bury power lines in Nevada. (14/21)

China routes petawatts. We route lawsuits.

The energy infrastructure tells the real story about who’s building for the future. (15/21)

In China, AI clusters are integrated with UHVDC lines and renewable hubs.

In America, hyperscalers are hoarding land next to gas plants. (16/21)

We’re not scaling AI. We’re jury-rigging it.

Like squatters with billion-dollar GPUs and truckloads of diesel. (17/21)

China will train its next frontier models in desert clusters powered by hydropower. Results will route to coastlines in seconds.

We’ll be rebooting servers after a brownout in Phoenix. (18/21)

This is not just about AI chips. It’s about whether a civilization can deliver power, cooling, and compute together.

China can. We can’t. (19/21)

UHVDC is not a buzzword. It’s the spine of China’s 21st-century power state.

We still treat the grid like a public utility. They treat it like a strategic weapon. (20/21)

You want to win the AI race? Start by building a grid.

Otherwise, we’ll be the first empire to lose global primacy because we couldn’t keep the lights on. (21/21)